Role of the Critic outside wine

When reading the cork'd case last night and thinking more broadly about the 'role of the critic' in other goods where quality is both hard to measure and different for different people, I was reminded about another area where critics play a huge role: art.  Specifically with regards to american abstract expressionism art in the late 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, two key critics played enormous roles in evaluating the works of American legends like Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooning.  Their names are Clement Greenberg and Harold Rosenberg, and their works and opinions on American art (which took the mantel as the center of the art world from from post-WWII), and their pieces were crucial in educating the art community on the values and merits of different art pieces.  Here's a great summary of how each looked at art (and a document I used to memorize before numerous exams years ago):

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Of course, art collectors or museum-goers had no requirement to agree with Greenberg or Rosenberg's opinions (and would often violate one's opinion by agreeing with the other).  However, these critics played a huge role in cultivating demand for different artists' works, which ultimately would play a major role in setting the price at which pieces would go to auction.

This seems very similar to the wine industry, where Parker scores can be the make or break for a wine's price and demand, and given the likely overlap in the crowds of wine drinkers and art fines, I hope that this neat parallel is interesting to the rest of you.

https://www.theartstory.org/critics-greenberg-rosenberg.htm
https://www.scribd.com/document/132690058/Art-Critics-Comparison-Clement-Gree

Woman's international day also occurs in Wine

With the upcoming Woman's international day (March, 8th) the articles and posts about women have flourished this past week. However, I had trouble running into an article about the role and position of women in the Wine industry.

Let me introduce you to 5 women who had a huge impact and shaped the Wine industry:

1) Hannah Weinberger, first female winemaker in Napa Valley
Given our proximity to Napa, let's start with Hannah. She became the California's first female winemaker during the 1880s. Her husband was murdered in 1882, making her assume control of the winery. In 1889, she was the only Californian vintner woman to win a silver medal in the wine competitions, which took her to the World's Fair in Paris. Today, her vineyard is part of William Cole Vineyards as the Prohibition forced the closure in 1920.


2) Barbe-Nicole Clicquot, first woman to run a Champagne House 
In the beginning of the 19th century, men controlled the wine business. However, Barbe's husband died when she was 27 and she took the leadership of the family wine business, transforming Veuve Clicquot into one of the world's greatest Champagne houses. Barbe known as the "Grande Dame of Champagne", created the modern form of pink champagne through the addition of red wine and developed the riddling rack process for mass production.


3) Madeline Triffon, first Merican female Master Sommelier

In 1987, she became the first American woman to pass the Master Sommelier exam.
She was born in Connecticut and worked in the food industry and was introduced to wine service at Westin's La Fontaine, a Frenc restaurant in Detroit. She educated herself through tastings and readings. Then she became a wine buyer in Westin and attended the Best Sopexa French Sommelier competition and passed successfully the Master Sommelier exam. “It gives you platinum validation, but you can never rest on your laurels,” she says. 

4) Sarah Morphew Stephen, first female Master of Wine

Today, women represent half the candidates for the Master of Wine. The program was funded in 1953, but it wasn't until 1970 that a woman graduated.
Sarah's interest in wine started when she was a young girl. At 17, she tried to become a trainee in the Symington Port's wine business receiving a tough answer: ‘In our opinion, there is no place for a woman in the wine trade,’ ” she says.
She studied oenology in Bordeaux University and worked in different French vineyards (Médoc, Saint-Émilion). She then returned to England and applied to Master of Wine. 


5) Mary Ewing-Mulligan, the prominent American wine educator 
Mary was the first American woman to earn a diploma from the prestigious Institute of the Masters of Wine. She contributes to the wine culture through her International Wine Center, a leading school for wine professionals. Additionally, she has co-authored "Wine for Dummies" and seven other books about wine. She also wrote for the NY Daily News for 10 years about wine and served as a wine columnist for other publications.

How did Whispering Angel win?

Whispering Angel is by far the number one Rose brand in the world - they sold 3.2 million bottles in 2016 and accounted for 20% of the total Provencal Rose consumed in the US. But how did it get to be so popular? Yes, they were one of the first to bring a quality Rose stateside, but more importantly they were able to ride the millenial wave with amazing product image.

For ~$20 + tax you could buy a taste of summer and live the good life. Chateau d'Esclans didn't even have to advertise apparently, and instead relied on partnerships with hip locales such as Soho House (NY), Chateau Marmont (LA), and the Fountainbleau (Miami). With these strategic locations as a foundation, the brand utilized image association as a way to drive growth. Everyone wanted to be seen with the sophisticated bottle that was a sign that they were vacationing somewhere or experiencing extravagance. It echoed a similar sentiment as a bottle of champagne, but for a far lower cost. In addition to partnerships with locations, they also partnered with Sugarfina to release a Rose infused gummy bear to add more fuel to the Rose fire. The gummy bears sold out in 2 hours! Taste alone cannot account for that level of demand. Clearly they hit the perfect spot of price, taste, and hype in order to skyrocket their brand and remain at the peak of the Rose craze.


Sources:
https://vinepair.com/articles/whispering-angel/
https://www.decanter.com/wine-news/whispering-angel-rose-gummy-bears-sold-two-hours-314002/

Unboxing Winc (Pt. 1)

Winc has clearly been targeting their marketing efforts at this class well (see Katherine's post on Winc), and doing pretty well at conversion too! Couldn't tell you the last time I saw a Facebook ad for something other than Winc, so when I saw this latest coupon for $20 off the first box, I pulled the trigger. I'll cover the purchasing experience in this post, and follow up with an un-boxing of the actual shipment next week.

Awareness: 

Let's characterize their marketing efforts as hyper-millenial targeted

Conversion:

Winc has users go through a six-question survey about tasting preferences, like how you take your coffee or how much salt you like in your food. They also ask for your preference on pricing, to which I responded - the lowest price possible, thanks.

Final price after discount for 3 bottles was $25 including shipping

Spurious thought: 

Online wine delivery services don't tell you how the delivery process will work. As a consumer, the hang-up I've always had in ordering wine online is not being sure about how package delivery would be handled. Would've been helpful to know that the wine could be signed for by a 21+ person other than me (e.g., doorman, McDonald front desk staff) - had to ask a friend to get this information 

More on the company itself:

• Winc claims to be the fastest-growing winemaker in the country and last raised a Series B round, with $31 million in total funding. Lead investors include Bessemer Venture Partners and Shining Capital.

• This year, Winc will bottle about 300,000 cases with roughly 100 labels. (At an average bottle price of $20, that's around $72M in potential revenues.. before the heavy discounting for new customer acquisition)

Sources: 

• https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-winc-wine-20180216-story.html
• https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/clubw-com